Hometown ChaChaCha 갯마을 차차차 [2021]

[abs-oluteM]

@JenL yeah the toe curling agyeo and OTT displays of affections especially from Hye Jin was a bit much for me especially in eps 11.  LOL . It was toned down a bit in eps 12 and the ending scene was pretty.  Hye Jin sure had some strange things she wanted to do for her bucket list. Especially  going to an art museum when she's not into art. But hmm ex gf was an art major? Is that the one in the preview that @mademoiselle posted? 

 

While there was definitely a lot of fan service with all the sweet scenes, the drama does need to move the plot along. If they want to address DS's trauma, they need to get it done soon but I have a feeling to fill 16 episodes they will drag this . I adore looking at Mr Dimples but I hour 20mins per episode  is way too long for me. (especially when the plot here is rather thin). 

 

I was happy to finally see the cop and nurse get together.  It was funny when the roast chicken seller had to tell him what was going on.. As to the village chief and ex wife,  honestly I have never been a fan of the village chief , and  she could do without him. But it seems like she still has plenty of affections left for him. 

[40somethingahjumma]

12 hours ago, Chocolate said:

This is the end of the road for me. Ep 11 made me cringe like h*ll and I had to switch channels mid way. I don't even know how to describe it but their acting all lovey dovey felt very unnatural. But so many are thrilled and smiling, I'm wondering if something is wrong with me lol...

 

I'll check in at the end to find out if Seong Hyeong and his assistant get together, what happened to Du Sik 5 years ago and why that couple divorced.

 

 

I thought I had entered the Twilight Zone. Heh. 

 

My youngest offered this insight: An episode where nothing happened except people making fun of other people. I should add that she was suffering from second-hand embarrassment. 

 

It was a really weird episode for me. So weird that I thought I was watching a completely different drama. Especially the end of it where I thought I was watching something like The Waltons or the Brady Bunch. Something from another era. Very corny... very affected. Gee whiz Du-sik, I'm so happy for you. Some of it was funny though -- Hye-jin beating up on Du-sik especially.

 

The aegyo from Hye-jin was cloying and unnatural. (Liked Shin Min-ah's antics in Tomorrow with You better)

 

I'm now convinced too that this show is really not my cup of tea. 

[Alice Wonderland]

OMG!!  I just really cant stop smiling. 

 

I found that DS is really a nice boyfriend that kdrama ever had! I like how his honesty that he doesn't have enough money to buy diamond but it doesn't make him inferior and makes something more meaningful to Hye Jin. "You buy something you like with your own hard earned money" Aww.. I don't know but I think this is really cool. And they are perfectly in sync. Hye Jin felt what she was doing was a bit redundant and immediately corrected it. They may be very different but somehow they match each other in terms of respecting each other and daring to admit each other's mistakes.

 

We see DS's past is coming more often at him. It's why HJ feels that something's wrong with him. I hope the writer won't screw this by something like noble idiocy trope. It will be much better if he allows her to help him overcome his problems and trauma together. Anyway, love is the best cure to any illness, wether it's physically or mentally. 

[Chocolate]

@Alice Wonderland and I are like 2 ends of a magnet haha. And I think I should take writing classes from @40somethingahjumma on diplomacy lol. I kept wondering why I reacted so strongly to ep11 and I think this must be it:

 

12 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

toe curling agyeo and OTT displays of affections

 

They are even brushing each other's teeth??? 😱😭🤣

 

Source: @emmadventurer

 

Debating if I should ffwd ep12 to get to this scene:

 

Edit: One mystery solved.

 

Spoiler

Source: @Gorgeousbabe113

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Chocolate

[40somethingahjumma]

3 hours ago, Alice Wonderland said:

OMG!!  I just really cant stop smiling. 

 

I found that DS is really a nice boyfriend that kdrama ever had!

 

I haven't watched Episode 12 but speaking of dental implants don't you think that both DS and HJ come across as having brain transplants?

 

It's like watching a rural version of Zettai Kareshi -- Absolute Boyfriend now. Someone's reprogrammed Du-sik and he's turned from grumpy know-it-all neighbour to doting boyfriend. It's just the most bizarre thing.

[Alice Wonderland]

@Chocolate that is the beauty in diversity, isn't it? 

 

Honestly their PDA and HJ's aegyo is quite too much for me too, made me cringe. But I let it slide, lols. 

 

38 minutes ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

 

I haven't watched Episode 12 but speaking of dental implants don't you think that both DS and HJ come across as having brain transplants?

 

It's like watching a rural version of Zettai Kareshi -- Absolute Boyfriend now. Someone's reprogrammed Du-sik and he's turned from grumpy know-it-all neighbour to doting boyfriend. It's just the most bizarre thing.

I see why you come up with the question. I feel it too. But I have nothing to comment other than yea, at least this is still okay for me. I skip ZK or AB, those aren't my cup of tea at all! I think HCC storyline is much better compared to some dramas which have more absurd plot and silly tropes. 

[abs-oluteM]

2 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

omeone's reprogrammed Du-sik and he's turned from grumpy know-it-all neighbour to doting boyfriend. It's just the most bizarre thing.

Love changes people ? LOL! ....you're right...that is my issue with this drama. The writing is like a mesh of different dramas coming together. So there are moments where I really like it. The confession for example and also like @Alice Wonderland I love that part where he made a box for her diamond necklace instead of feeling like he had to get her some expensive bling to live up to her standards.  But there are moments when I am annoyed too with how DS is being projected. There are parts where  I have had  to FF ( especially some of the non-OTP scenes) because I find myself fidgeting - so that I suppose is not a good sign. 

 

@Chocolate Personally don't mind some cute agyeo but I think it should be kept at a minimum. There's a reason maybe why I am not a fan of PDA. 

 

This drama isn't so bad ( I have definitely seen worse) but  perhaps I wanted it to be more ground breaking. Tropes aren't necessarily bad. Comparing this to Monthly Magazine Home , so has spoilers

Spoiler

Prior to watching this show I was watching Monthly Magazine Home - that drama was tropey too and had plenty of clichés but the writer had very fresh ways of twisting it. In fact I enjoyed the writing on that one a bit more than this ( except for the ending which the writer messed up) . The ML there played by Kim Ji Suk was quite caricature - very prickly outside but soft inside ( like Jun Wan in HP)  - way harsher than DS in how he dealt with people at times. I know the audience had mix feelings about him. However he knew he wasn't a saint and was aware that he was lacking - he was consistently written and his growth / change was gradual. So it was interesting  to see. Doo Shik here has a nicer personality in some ways ( and genuinely very sweet & kind )  but he also has a bad habit passing judgement and thinks he is the best in everything ( I accept that it  is his flaw since no one is perfect). 

 

[mademoiselle]

 

Spoiler

 

Hahaha this is my favourite bit... Kim Seon Ho imitated Shin Min Ah too

 

Spoiler

A FEW MOMENTS LATER...

source

[40somethingahjumma]

Episode 12 was better.  Probably one of the better episodes in the series. A lot less of the schmaltzy aegyo, some genuinely humorous moments and for me it's not a bad way to finally move on from the show with that nice moment at the beach. I'm not that interested or concerned about his trauma. By now it's clear to me that the approach of the drama doesn't sit well with me and I don't find the storytelling consistently engaging. I don't mind tropey rom coms but this one doesn't work for me consistently. At least I can say that I gave it a chance. 

 

I wanted to also probably make an unpopular point about Hwa-jeong and Yeong-guk's dynamic. Even though it is obvious that Yeong-guk's a first class idiot and it's good he's finally come to the same conclusion himself, marriage is a two-way street. The events that led to their divorce didn't really need to end in divorce. Even though Hwa-jeong may have thought she was being kind to him and freed him from the tyranny of a boring marriage, it really didn't really solve anything and in the end, she certainly didn't do him any favours. He was none the wiser and what could have been an opportunity for growth for him was lost, IMO. It's been obvious for some time that even though she loves him a lot, Hwa-jeong hides her feelings behind barbed insults that don't advance any kind of civilized discourse between them. She doesn't want him to know he cares and he doesn't do subtext.  She's unhappy, he's unhappy. We know he's not terribly bright... and as we can see in examples shown all throughout the show, many people do need things spelt out. This is how misunderstandings snowball. I like Eun-cheol a lot but yeah, he also needs help in understanding what Mi-seon is trying to tell him about her intentions towards him. Assuming he should be able to read her mind is a recipe for resentment. That's why Hye-jin's secret bucket list can't reasonably be kept a secret from Du-sik without one or both becoming frustrated, resentful or disappointed.

 

Clearly the show is making some kind of point about honest communication being the foundation for a solid long-term relationship. I don't really believe that Yeong-guk has no feelings for Hwa-jeong or that drunken words are the sum total of his true feelings. He could have been frustrated about something at the time (more context on that would be good) but despite saying what he did to Chun-jae, he was genuinely very appreciative of Hwa-jeong's thoughtfulness in preparing the hangover soup the next morning. She should have and could have asked him directly if he really meant what he said in his drunken state. Sometimes I feel really awful about the way she runs him down in public even though he's not exactly the most likeable person in the world. She's unhappy. He's unhappy. She can't move on. She won't let him move on even if that was her original intention. They might as well have stayed married. It's a case of unhappily married or unhappily divorced. Maybe they weren't  as unhappily married as they thought they were. I don't think the problem in their marriage was him but the lack of deep, meaningful communication. We know that Hwa-jeong is more than capable of effective interactions. She's really good with I-jun and she's normally very sensible. There's a part of me that wonders if she really asked for the divorce because she wanted to let him go or whether she was trying to punish him. Maybe she was just testing him. I often wonder if she pushes all his buttons to test him. 

 

Ah well... that's it from me. Glad that the show works for many and here's hoping that everything is resolved well in the final act. 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by 40somethingahjumma

[mademoiselle]

I finally watched episode 12. The aegyo or lovey dovey scenes are less cringy than episode 11. I'm not obsessed or in love with this drama so I didn't pay too much attention on the characters and their behaviours. However I gave it a thought, I do think depending on who the lover is and love itself can change a person and their reactions and behaviours towards their different lovers. Furthermore they are in their honeymoon period and is the worse time ever to be around the lovebirds. I've personally experienced one at work & you just want to yell at them to get a room.

 

The show is still putting a smile on my face in this episode so for that, I think, it works for me as it is cheering the viewers up. I supposed this can be each to our own as it may not cheer a lonely / single person.

 

All of the things they had done, I could deal with except Hye Jin's super weird bucket list. As I thought it is weird so I went to have a look at who this writer is coz I forgot. Oh dear @abs-oluteM ... how did the writer went from writing The Crowned Clown to this? At least Doo Shik's bucket list is normal, thoughtful and sweet.

 

So, since he can't pay for the diamond necklace - is that mean he's not the winner of the lotto? LOL.

 

Doo Shik's nightmare haunting him I find quite realistic and have appeared in dramas before although I don't remember which. Thanks to watching Yumi's Cells, my brain is imagining majority of Doo Shik's cells want him to be happy but his Nervous Cell is nervous this happiness may be short-lived and Conscience Cell is questioning his rights to happiness. As we don't know what the trauma is, and Doo Shik's nightmare had a kid screaming, I wonder if he is going to have a panic attack when he drives the pregnant lady to the hospital next episode.

 

Hwa Jung's breakdown scene made me tear up. I feel so sorry for her however this scenario actually does ring true in real life. We now know the reason but what I don't understand now is why she's still taking care of him, in secret? Did she want to reconcile? Did she do it out of love? Has she to come to terms that even though their marriage is not built on love, they could still be family and it's still better to have one another than nobody and lonely?

 

The emphasis on their son this episode concerns me as it felt like a foreshadowing that he might act out later. The son is still a kid but he's acting so mature and grown up, which I believe it's for Hwa Jung's sake. But I do really love the way Hwa Jung is bringing him up - that whole speech about celebrating he's work hard rather than because he's won was so encouraging.

Edited October 4, 2021 by mademoiselle

[mademoiselle]

Lol, it's a Valentino! This looks nice with a blazer on but without it it burns my eyes (in a bad way). So cringy.

 

[ktcjdrama]

Finally caught up today... so last week's theme is "lovey-dovey honeymoon phase"... before the storm??  Haha, I thought I was the only one feeling cringey about the OTT aegyo of the OTP. I agree, there isn't much storyline to watch here. Seriously, if not because of the leads that I love to watch, I think I would've dropped the drama. I will still finish this drama, but only watching casually and not a priority to catch up.... At least the preview for ep.13 seems promising in further reveal of Du Shik's past.

[gilaswan]

I'm leaning on the side of not liking episode 12 at all. I'm starting to find their relationship so quickly tiresome because Hyejin is so unrealistically dense for a 30-something dentist from cosmopolitan Seoul. The way she regards relationships and approaches dates and "things to do" is unbelievably juvenile. So absolutely cringey. She is insensitive to his feelings - does she really not see his drop in mood after meeting that college mate, or is she refusing to acknowledge his change in disposition because she doesn't want her plans to change? This level of self-centredness in an adult would set of alarm bells! If I were Dushik's friend, I'd tell him to drop her immediately. And given how practical he's been so far with his life philosophy, I can't see how he would want to date someone like her. What happened to the side of her revealed to us by her Senior? She's been annoying for the last 2 episodes. If it weren't for the other interesting aspects of the story - the production crew's relationships, the villagers, Dushik's backstory - I think I would've dropped this drama just because of episodes 11 & 12.

[JenL]

On 10/4/2021 at 3:27 AM, abs-oluteM said:

@JenL yeah the toe curling agyeo and OTT displays of affections especially from Hye Jin was a bit much for me especially in eps 11.  LOL . It was toned down a bit in eps 12 and the ending scene was pretty. 

 

Episodes 11-12

 

I still haven't had time to write my thoughts properly on last week and now I'm kind of lazy....so this will be it, unless I feel inspired later on.  I'm skip-rewatching ep 11 and 12 because I'm making something that requires the mystery clues, which I can't remember. I don't know if I agree things toned down in Episode 12....In fact, I think it was 100 times worse than episode 11!  At least in Episode 11 they couldn't spend all the time together because the villagers played a joke on them and pulled them apart. But also the comedic elements, though predictable, made it less mushy and gave me a laugh. It was also nice to see the villagers together cheering them on. 

 

In episode 12, there are SOOOOOO many over the top moments: toe-curling, couple's yoga, brushing each other's teeth, dimple kissing.....I felt intensely, intensely, intensely unwell . Maybe I'm just a miserable, dark soul, but this was too much for me. I think it just feels forced because the characters now have sappy voices...me: but where is their smart banter??? Sort of went from 0 to 100 too quickly that it felt inconsistent with their characters 

 

The only romantic bit I liked was the bit at the beach at the end, which felt a little more more genuine. I hope I don't get killed by haters...but everyone has different tastes in what they consider good romance and my taste is just really different to this and I'm sure they'd hate what I love 

 

The other thing is that the series went from 1-2 product placement items to like 20 things in Episode 12  Probably because companies asked to be placed in the most romantic episode or got their bids in on time for most viewed episode? 

 

I did like that we finally saw the backstory to the divorced couple. Poor Hwa Jeong. I didn't exactly predict this before the episode, but I did guess that whatever she found out the day was related to the fact he always loved the teacher more than her. But the real mystery is....WHAT DID SHE SEE IN HIM?!  I hope they solve that one for me because I'm still so confused about how a strong and capable woman could still show so much love to a guy like that.

 

*Disclaimer: Today wasn't the best of days...hope this didn't come across as cranky...while there are people so into this, I just felt like this episode wasn't to my personal tastes. At all. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by JenL

[Mouse]

I agree that Hye-Jin made these 2 episodes so cringy.... but I still enjoyed their sweet scenes just because I can't get enough of Kim Seon-ho. His charm was in full force here and I especially love the lip-biting, shy-glancing expressions he makes. 

 

The only reason I can come up with as to why Hye-Jin was behaving this way was that she was very much in love and just wanting to enjoy the moment with a man she truly liked. It looks like she's only had 1 previous relationship and back then she was too busy juggling work and school so she didn't really have time to have fun. So perhaps she's just doing the things she's always wanted to be able to do, now with Du Sik. If I look at it from this perspective, I can understand.

 

As for Du Sik - I am curious to find out what the back story to his trauma. I don't know if it's a past lover or close friend that he's lost. But one thing is for sure, he feels responsible for it somehow.

 

I have to say that the scene between Hwa-jung and Yeong-Gook where she asks him for a divorce was so well-done. Her acting in that scene was really good and you could feel and see all the underlying emotions. I think she divorced him to set him free. 

 

 

[gilaswan]

9 hours ago, Mouse said:

I have to say that the scene between Hwa-jung and Yeong-Gook where she asks him for a divorce was so well-done. Her acting in that scene was really good and you could feel and see all the underlying emotions. I think she divorced him to set him free. 

This was the best scene of the episode.

 

The other scene I liked was Dushik's dream. Kim Seonho's stage acting experience really came through there. But again, cos of the general goofiness of the entire episode, it did seem like a displaced scene.

[40somethingahjumma]

10 hours ago, gilaswan said:

I'm leaning on the side of not liking episode 12 at all. I'm starting to find their relationship so quickly tiresome because Hyejin is so unrealistically dense for a 30-something dentist from cosmopolitan Seoul. The way she regards relationships and approaches dates and "things to do" is unbelievably juvenile. So absolutely cringey. She is insensitive to his feelings - does she really not see his drop in mood after meeting that college mate, or is she refusing to acknowledge his change in disposition because she doesn't want her plans to change? 

 

In all honesty, I also thought that Hye-jin was really over-the-top with her bucket list. However, what made it more palatable for me was the fact that Du-sik was really pushy with her at the start and crossed a few lines with her so it looked almost like he was getting his comeuppance and she was getting her revenge for the times when he was driving her nuts with his nagging.

 

To me the show's writing has always been incoherent to say the least. I can't even pay it the compliment of saying it's a character-driven show because it isn't even that consistent with how the leads are portrayed. The fact is that there are other aspects to the show is what gives it legs and colour. 

 

But I'm fascinated by how sharply divided people are over this show even if the show itself has never excited me. It baffles me that someone thought all that aegyo on steroids was a consistent perspective of the characters.

[mademoiselle]

All these sweet scenes will soon become a flashback after / during the angst 😅😝🤭

 

[Hyacinth0910]

Any photos for episode 13 preview this weekend??? 

[mademoiselle]

Lee Sang Yi gifted Seon Ho a bracelet and rings...what the hell..? So random. These two are the real couple...? 🤣

 

[mademoiselle]

The Swoon Promo

 

Hahaha, Seon Ho is going to lose again. I have been observing... his dimples are actually deeper than Min Ah's... or I should say form more easily than Min Ah's.

Edited October 8, 2021 by mademoiselle

[mademoiselle]

BTS

 

[abs-oluteM]

It doesn't look like the angst is starting just yet but I hope the show gets on with it...

Pre-released...

 

On 10/8/2021 at 2:00 PM, mademoiselle said:

Hahaha, Seon Ho is going to lose again. I have been observing... his dimples are actually deeper than Min Ah's... or I should say form more easily than Min Ah's.

True- impossible for the dimple not to appear. He face muscles move and it is obvious. 

[mademoiselle]

Oh ma god, are they still doing Hye Jin's bucket list? @abs-oluteM

 

[abs-oluteM]

My summary from Naver for tonight .